Two-purpose body garment



Filed April ELO, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l o O OO INVENTOR.

Feb. 24, 194s. G, M, HAR-f' 2,436,2130

TWO PURPOSE BDY GARMENT Filed April l0, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

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Patented Feb. 24, 1948 I TWO-PURPOSE BODY GARMENT,

Gladys M. Hart, Portland, Oreg. 2 Application April 10, 1945, Serial No; 587,577

(ci. 'fz- 42) 1 Claim.

This invention appertains to certain wearing apparel for women, and more particularly to a two purpose undergarment of the brassire type.

An object of the invention is to provide a garment of this kind, which is designed and constructed to not only serve as an uplift brassire but, also, as a comfortable and convenient support for the parts of a hearing aid equipment, other than the ear-piece, so that the wearing of such equipment, by women afflicted with impaired hearing, is rendered inconspicuous, without in any way diminishing the operating eciency of the equipment.

Another object of the invention has to do with the provision of a garment of this kind, wherein pockets are provided at opposite sides of the garment to support the electrical batteries, of the hearing aid, in or near the natural hollows of the armpits, the batteries being housed within acid and body moisture resistant envelopes, to be detachably fitted into the pockets, and a third pocket is provided at the front center of the garment to support the amplifier, within the natural hollow located between the breasts.

With these and other objects and advantages in view, the invention resides in the certain new and useful combination, construction, and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, set forth in the appended claim, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the garment, in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a back elevation;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary rear elevation of the front central portion, showing the structure of the amplifier supporting pocket;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary, vertical, transverse section, taken through the line li--li on Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Figure 5is a fragmentary front elevation of a side pocketed portion of the garment, with the flap closure open and a part of the front wall of the pocket broken away, to show a battery envelope within the pocket and the securing means to prevent accidental displacement of the envelope and the contained battery from the pocket.

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in the several views, the garment, as it is exemplied therein, is generally comprised in a lower front part A; an upper front part formed of two centrally joined fulled sections B, B: side parts C. C, Joined to the ends of the lower part A.

. 2 l and the outer side edges of the fulled sections B, B; separate back parts D, D, joined at one of each of their side edges to adjacent side edges of the side parts C, C; and shoulder straps E, E, connecting high points on the upper edge lines of the fulled sections B, B, and the back parts D, D; the latter parts having their other side edges provided with suitable fastenings.

The lower front part A is preferably formed of a double thickness of a suitable fabric and of a, length to extend across the front of the body, at or about thewaist line, and has its ends upwardly angled, as at I0, to provide relatively narrow widths for attachment, as at i2, to the near edges ofthe side parts C, C, which edges are substantially arcuatev in. form and have their lower ends y curved rearwardly to form notches, i, e., dartshaped openings, asat M, between the same and .the angled ends i0,and these'notches are bridged with strips o f elastic I6, to cause a snug fit of the lower edge portion of the garment about the body.

The full'ed sections B, B, are joined together.- medially of the front of the garment, by a vertical seam l8,.and are each formed with a dart 20. extending upwardly from the lower connected edge thereof to a point in the approximate center of the fulled portion, to have an uplift effect on the breast, when the garment is worn. These sections B, B, are also provided with vertically elongated openings 22, at opposite sides of and contiguous to the seam I8. Secured on the rear sides of the fulled sections B, B, and extending across the openings 22, is the back wall 24, of a l pocket 26, which wall is preferably formed of a quilted iiannel fabric, while a. piece of an open mesh fabric 28 is secured over each of the openings 22, as is best shown in Figure 4. This pocket 26 is designed to receive the amplifier-microphone unit 30, of a hearing aid, and to support *I the same within the natural hollow between the breasts, so that its presence will be undetected, when the wearer dons an outer garment, or dress. The quilted flannel, forming the back wall 2t, is employed for its moisture absorbing quality, while the open mesh fabric 28, covering the openings 22, aords ventilation to the interior of the pocket, about the amplifier-microphone unit 3. In order to prevent displacement of the unit 36 from the pocket 2S, whenever the wearer bends over, it is provided with a clip 36 which engages with a loop 34, carried on the inner side of the connected portions of the fulled sections B, B, which, with the mesh fabric 23, constitutes the front wall 'of the pocket. A binding 38 is sewn over the edge ot the back wall 24, to enclose the raw edge of the material.

The side parts C. C, are each made of a length of the same material as is employed in making the other parts of the garment, with an upper portion thereof forming the back wall I2 and a closure nap Il, and a lower portion folded over upon the back wall I2. to form the front wall 48, of a pocket 40, to house the battery (not shown) of the hearing aid. The bottom of the pocket 40 is formed by a double line of stitching I8 and the folded portion, below the bottom of the pocket, is further strengthened by a double line of stitching 59, extending along the line of fold and upwardly along the side edges of the pocket, substantially as shown. The flap 44 folds downwardly over the outer side of the top edge of the Yfront wall I8 and 'is provided with a fastener. such as the hook 52,

to be adjustably engaged with any one of a series of parallel loops 54, sewn into the front wall 48.

A battery (not shown) is enclosed within an oilsilk mesh envelope 56, to i'lt within the pocket 40, and it, also, has a closure flap 58, in continuation with the top edge of its back wall, to fold over onto the front wall thereof, prior to its insertion into the pocket 40. Secured at an upper corner of the pocket 40, is a short length of tape 60, which carries one part 62, of a snap fastener, to secure the battery and its envelope against accidental displacement from the pocket, the other part 64, of the fastener, being secured to the back wall of the pocket, substantially in line with the opening of the pocket.'

In use, the garment is applied to the person in the usual manner of wearing a brassire, the breasts being received -in the fulled portions of the upper front sections B, B, and are given an uplift by the eflectobtained from the darts 20, which extend substantially in line with the attached ends of the shoulder straps E, E, to that end. The lower front portion A engages the body snugly immediately Vbelow the breasts, by reason of the tensioning effect thereon by the elastic strips i6, bridging the notches i4, so that the several pockets 26 and 48, together with their content, are held firmly against any undue or discomforting movements when the garment is properly fitted to the person. With the battery carried in one of the side pockets 40, as shown in Figure 1, a cord conductor 66 is extended between one terminal each of the same and the amplifiermicrophone unit 30, while cord conductors 68 and lll lead from the other terminals thereof and are trained down over the front side of the garment to its lower edge, where they are held in place by a tab 12, secured to the bottom edge of the front part A and provided with a hook fastening ld engaged with a retaining loop 16, In order tn -relieve the shoulders of undue strain or pressure.

incident to the weight of the battery and the amplifier-microphone unit, pads 18 are secured to the under sides of the straps E, E. at their points of crossing the shoulders, from the front to the rear sides of the garment. The cord conductors 86 and 10 are attached to the amplifier-microphone unit at its bottom and pass upwardly of the pocket 26 and outwardly therefrom, substantially as shown in Figures 1 and 4, while the cord conductors 68 and 10 lead from the securement 12 to the usual ear-piece (not shown), the cord conductors passing to the same beneath the outer garment and outwardly from the latter at points where they will be the least conspicuous,

Having thus fully described my invention, it is to be understood that changes in design and minor detailsof construction and arrangement oi' parts may be resorted to, within the limits defined by the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

In a breast-supporting brassire, a lower front part of a length to extend across the front of the body of the wearer at about the waistline. an upper front part formed of twoV fulled sections joined together by a vertical seam positioned medially of the front of the brassire and arranged above said lower front part and connected to the latter, each of said iulled sections being provided with a vertical elongated opening, the openings in the fulled sections being positioned contiguous to said seam, a pocket adapted to receive a. hearing aid amplifier unit secured to the rear sides of said fulled sections and extending across the openings in the latter, each of said openings being covered with an open-mesh fabric, a back part, and a side part intermediate said back part and said lower and upper front parts, said side part having an end joined to the complemental edge of the lower front part and to the complemental side edge of the fulled section of said upper front part and having its other end joined to the complemental edge of said back part, each side part embodying an upper portion forming a back wall, a lower portion folded over upon the back wall and secured to the latter adjacent its lower end thereof to form a pocket for the reception of a battery therein, and a closure flap carried by said back Wall and foldable over the front wall thereof for closing said pocket.

GLADYS M. HART.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,811,548 Klapfer June 23, 1931 ,1' 1,453,319 Bemis June 12, 1923 339,870 Faber Apr. 13, 1886 1,989,382 Schaittacher Jan. 29, 1935 1,900,129 Ring Mar. 7, 1933 2,301,499 Amyot Nov. 10, 1942 

